Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Well, David Forsyth is about to kick it up to another level with appearances on three -- count them three! -- shows at the same time.

David made his daytime debut in 1980 on Texas, where he played TJ, and old love of Ashley's (Pamela Long) and, as it turned out, young Gregory's father. Those episodes are set to start airing shortly, here.

David stayed with Texas until its cancellation in 1982 and, in 1983, moved on to As The World Turns, where he played Burke Donovan, Dusty's adoptive father. Interestingly, Burke was originally written as an abusive parent, taking his frustrations about his late wife having cheated on him, out on poor Dusty. But David felt very uncomfortable with the storyline, pointing out that it was hardly entertaining to the audience to watch a man wallop an innocent child. As a result, the character was rewritten so that Burke actually adored Dusty and vice versa, thus creating one of the most endearing father-son relationships in Oakdale. (In my mind, I always presume that the reason Dusty is so dedicated to Johnny is because he remembers Burke and how Burke was able to lovingly raise a child that wasn't his.)

Sadly for Dusty, Burke died soon after arriving in Oakdale, and David Forsyth moved over to Search for Tomorrow, where he played Hogan McCleary, crusading reporter.

Currently, the reporter in question is crusading to find out why Liza married Lloyd -- when she really loves Hogan. You can watch those scenes, here.

Once again, David stayed with SFT until its cancellation in 1986 and, a year later, debuted on Another World as Michael Hudson's Vietnam veteran brother, John, who was still dealing with his demons from the war.

Recently, as a consultant for ANOTHER WORLD, we did a story for David Forsythe [John] about when his wife is gone and he is going through psychological and medical problems. He breaks down in a car to Felicia because a boy had just died in the hospital and he is reminded of a boy he couldn't save in Vietnam. We used it because I knew David had been in Vietnam. Since I had been in combat in Europe, I transposed it. I knew what my emotions would have been if I had had that situation which I never had. David is a marvelous actor and he called me, astounded about the truth of the experience thrown into his character. He knew I couldn't know what his personal experience was. I said no, but I knew mine and the parallels were strong enough.

To watch him as John, check out the episodes of AW currently running on Hulu.com, here!